Auditorium

ABSTRACT

An auditorium ( 10 ), part of which is covered by a roof structure ( 20 ), the auditorium has a partitioning structure ( 22 ) which acts to partition off a section of the auditorium whereby a majority part of the partitioned section is covered by the roof structure.

The present invention relates to an auditorium. The invention especially relates to an auditorium that is designed to act as both a sports stadium and an entertainment arena, for example an exhibition hall or concert venue.

There is a continual demand to provide increasingly large and modern stadia for sporting events. New stadiums are being constructed throughout the world which are designed to house and provide for tens of thousands of followers of sports teams. The cost of constructing suitable stadia is vast, running often into hundreds of millions of pounds. It is very difficult, and in most cases impossible, to recoup the cost simply through the sporting events held at the stadia. In football stadiums for example, games are only played at the stadium approximately twenty two times every year. The majority of football stadiums are not equipped to provide any other sort of entertainment events other than football. Even for the few which are, the time of publication of the yearly schedule of games is such that other events cannot be practically booked in advance.

Moreover, football stadia are open-air such that events, other than football, cannot be realistically held at the stadium throughout the winter months. Some newly constructed stadia incorporate retractable roof mechanisms which may allow events to take place at any time during the year. However, the grass or sports surface, suffers considerable damage when the roof of the stadium is shut for a sustained period. Also, the size of the roof construction does not allow the roof to be opened and closed intermittently following changes to weather conditions.

The present invention sets out to provide a sports stadium, a part of which is able to provide a closed auditorium for other entertainment events such as an exhibition or musical concert.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided an enclosed area for the provision of entertainment to an audience seated in a defined area of an open air sports stadium comprising:

a roof extending over the defined area and at least part of the sports playing field;

one or more partitioning structures retractable from a fully extended position wherein the defined area is completely enclosed, to a stored position wherein the entire sports playing field is open; and

means for supporting the partitioning structure in a fully extended position.

Preferably the defined area includes a floor structure to which the or each partitioning structures may be fastened.

Preferably the floor structure comprises, or otherwise includes, a stage.

Preferably the floor structure is located over at least part of the sports playing field. Preferably still, the defined area has means to provide climate control to the underside of the floor structure thereby to protect the sports playing field.

Advantageously the or each partitioning structure, when fully extended, extends from the floor structure to the roof structure of the defined area.

Preferably the roof may include a retractable portion. Alternatively the entire roof itself may be retractable.

Preferably the at least part of the roof may be at least partially transparent.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a auditorium, part of which is covered by a roof structure, the auditorium having a partitioning structure which is movable from a stored position to an extended position whereby the partitioning structure acts to partition off a section of the auditorium whereby a majority part of the partitioned section is covered by the roof structure.

One embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is schematic plan view of an auditorium constructed in accordance with the present invention with the roof omitted and with a partitioning structure in a stored position;

FIG. 2 is the auditorium of FIG. 1 with the partitioning structure in a fully extended position;

FIG. 3 illustrates the part of the auditorium sectioned off by the partitioning structure as extended in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is the auditorium of FIG. 1 with the partitioning structure in a fully extended position in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates the part of the auditorium sectioned off by the partitioning structure as extended in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side cross-section of the auditorium of FIG. 1 with the partitioning structure in an extended position.

It will be appreciated that stadia include a large number of different design and constructional features, for the purposes of this application, a simplified stadium construction will be described, concentrating solely on features that contribute to the invention.

FIG. 1 is a simplified plan view of an auditorium, in this case a football stadium 10. It is clearly envisaged however that the stadium could apply to any outdoor sports ground, such as for example, a rugby pitch or cricket pitch.

The building structure of the stadium 10 surrounds a football pitch 12. The stadium 10 is an open-air arena which means that the football pitch 12 is not covered by a roof structure. This maintains the integrity of the grass surface of the football pitch 12.

The stadium building generally includes an area for corporate use 14, a public lobby area 16 and a seating area 18.

The corporate area 14 and lobby area 16 are generally enclosed within the main building structure. Though not shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the stadium 10 includes a roof structure 20 that extends over the seating area 18. This can be seen clearly in FIG. 6. The roof structure 20 extends approximately to the edge of the football pitch 12 so to provide cover for all fans watching the game.

The stadium design further includes two extendible partitioning structures 22. Each partitioning structure 22 is foldable to a storage position against a back wall 24 of the stadium 10, as shown in FIG. 1. Each partitioning structure 22 comprises a plurality of hinged panels foldable back on themselves in a concertinaed manner for storage. An end panel of each partitioning structure 22 is fastened to the back wall 24 of the stadium 10.

The end panels may be fastened within a longitudinally extending groove located within the back wall 24 to allow the end panels to slide along the groove to a position from which either or both partitioning structures 22 can be extended.

The partitioning structures 22 are extendible from the wall 24 to partition off a section or defined area 26 of the stadium 10. The partitioning structures 22 extend towards the pitch between gaps 28 formed between adjacent chairs and other building structures within the lobby area 16.

At least some of the panels of the partitioning structures 22 may have a curved profile such that the partitioning structures 22, when fully extended, partition off a defined area that is generally semi-circular, as can be clearly seen in the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3.

The partitioning structures 22 may be extended or retracted manually or may be automatically controlled. The bottom edges of the panels of the partitioning structures 22 may be fastened within, so as to be slidable along, a groove formed in the floor of the stadium 10 to allow simply and efficient extension and retraction of the partitioning structures 22.

The distal ends of the partitioning structures 22 are fastened together once the structures 22 are fully extended, to entirely enclose the defined area 26. The partitioning structures 22 extend partly across the pitch 12 to provide an area 28 in which a stage 30 can be located as will be described later.

Once extended, the partitioning structures 22 are fastened to supports 32 which are embedded in recesses 34 formed in the pitch surface 12, as can be seen clearly in FIG. 6. The position of the supports 32, which is provided by way of example only, are shown in dotted lines in FIGS. 1 to 5.

Once the defined area 26 is partitioned, the area 28 between the seating 18 and the partition structures 22 is sufficiently large to provide a stage 30, which may be located at least partly over the pitch 12. The stage 30 is mounted on a series of further supports 36, again embedded within recesses formed in the pitch surface. The underside of the stage may have some form of climate control, which may for example include UV lighting, to maintain the integrity of the pitch surface 12 directly underneath the stage.

When the partitioned structures 22 are fully retracted to their storage position, whereby entire pitch 12 is opened for normal use, the recesses are plugged to provide a continuous smooth playing surface 12 in those areas.

As can be seen in FIG. 6, each partitioning structure 22 includes a roof part 38 which extends perpendicularly from the top of the structure 24. The roof part 38 is, for example, around 30 meters in length and, once the partition is in place, extends towards the roof structure 20 of the stadium 10.

The roof part 38 may be telescopically extendible from the main partitioning structure 20.

The roof part 38 of the partitioning structures 22 is then fastened to the roof structure 20 to provide a roof which entirely covers the defined area 26 sectioned off. The roof part 38 of the partitioning structures 24 may be at least partially transparent so as not to impair the view of audiences within the defined area 26, and maintain the ambience of the area 26 in bright weather. In an alternative embodiment, the roof structure 20 of the stadium 10 may be extendible to meet with, and be fastened to, the top of the partitioning structures 22.

The partition provided by the partitioning structures 22 is entirely supported by the ground supports 32 thus avoiding any stress or pressure to being applied to the roof structure 20 of the stadium 10.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the partitioning structures 22 are located against side walls 40 of the stadium 10 and extend in a straight line across the pitch 12 to partition of a defined area 42 of approximately one third of the stadium 10.

When not in use the stadium 10 constructed in accordance with the present invention is able to act as a traditional football stadium whereby the entire seating area is accessible by fans wanting to watch a football match. The entire lobby area 16 and corporate area 14 of the stadium 10 is also accessible to relevant people at this time.

When a football match is not taking place, the partitioning structures 22 can be extended and fastened together to section off a defined area 26, 42 of the stadium 10. The defined area 26, 42 can then act as a entirely separate entertainment area or arena where, for example, musical concerts can take place. The partitioning structures 22 act as the surrounding walls of the arena and the stadium roof structure 20 and roof parts 38 of the partitioning sections 22 provide a completely enclosed structure, protecting audiences from adverse whether conditions thus allowing the arena to be used at any time of year. The seating area within the arena is very close to the stage which provides for a greater audience spectacle.

It is clearly envisaged that the stadium can be designed to provide partitioning structures 22 stored at and extendible across any part of the stadium 10 to partition of a defined area of the stadium to any shape or size.

Although the embodiments described refer to two partitioning structures 22 brought together to provide a partition, it is envisaged that only one partitioning structure 22 may be required which is extendible across the stadium 10 to be fastened to another wall of the stadium 10. It is also envisaged a plurality of partitioning structures 22, or sets of partitioning structures 22 may be provided to provide a number of separate or interlinked defined sectioned off areas at any one time.

The inner surface of the partitioning structures 22, which face the seating area 18 when the partition is extended, may include one or more screens to receive projected images. This allows for, example, away games to be projected onto the screens which can then be watched by an audience within the arena.

The lobby area 16 of a stadium 10 traditionally comprises one or more floors of corridors linking a number of entrances to different seating areas within the stadium. The lobby area also traditionally includes food and drink areas, toilets and other similar amenities.

Stadiums are currently being built that include a separate building connected to the stadium to house exhibitions, museums and other forms of publically accessible cultural areas. Such areas can be become very busy and public congestion can often make it difficult to get close to exhibits.

It is envisaged that the stadium of the present invention is designed to utilise the lobby area 16 of the stadium 10 to hold exhibitions. Partitioning structures 22 such as those hereinbefore described can be utilised to partition off other areas of the stadium to which the exhibition does not extend. Use of the lobby area allows large numbers of people to walk in one direction around the length of the stadium to view exhibits

The above described embodiments are given by way of example only, and the skilled reader will naturally appreciate that many variations could be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention. 

1. An open air sports stadium having a defined area in which an audience can be seated and wherein the defined area can be enclosed for provision of entertainment to the seated audience, the sports stadium comprising: a roof extending over the defined area and at least part of a sports playing field; one or more partitioning structures retractable from a fully extended position wherein the defined area is completely enclosed, to a stored position wherein the entire sports playing field is open; and means for supporting the partitioning structure in a fully extended position.
 2. An enclosed area according to claim 1, wherein the defined area includes a floor structure to which the or each partitioning structures may be fastened.
 3. An enclosed area according to claim 1, wherein the floor structure comprises, or includes a stage.
 4. An enclosed area according to claim 1, wherein the floor structure is located over at least part of the sports playing field.
 5. An enclosed area according to claim 1, wherein the defined area has means to provide climate control to the underside of the floor structure thereby to protect the sports playing field.
 6. An enclosed area according to claim 1, wherein the or each portioning structure, when fully extended, extends from the floor structure to the roof structure of the defined area.
 7. An enclosed area according to claim 1, wherein the roof structure includes a retractable portion.
 8. An enclosed area according to claim 1, wherein the entire roof is retractable.
 9. An enclosed area according to claim 1, wherein at least part of the roof is at least partially transparent. 10-11. (canceled) 